Follow Friday – April 16, 2010 #FF

Follow Friday Icon I’ve been a bit lax the last several weeks in participating in Follow Friday on Twitter.  I always liked the concept and tried to do a couple good ones every Friday.  Over the past year or so (I think it’s closer to two) I found that I kept sharing the same folks.  While these tweeps are excellent to follow – great conversation, smart, helpful – I just felt I was repeating myself over & over again.

So last week Chris Brogan blogged about a different tactic to Follow Friday.  Such an obvious one that a person hates to admit they never thought of it (I hadn’t), though I’m sure he’s not the first to think of it.  Knowing Chris, he won’t mind if all of us borrow this one though.

Rather than try and cram as many twitter handles into that 140 characters, I’ll call out a handful of folks right here and tell you a little bit of why you should follow them.  Here goes.

  • Paul DeBettignies (MNHeadhunter) @MNHeadHunter – There was little doubt who was going to be my first #FF shout out. Friend, mentor, biz advisor, collaborator, critic, and cheerleader – Paul DeBettignies is a Minneapolis based independent IT Recruiter who’s helped more people than I can count in job search, career help, and more.  He’s also the biggest U of M sports fan in existence.
  • Phil Gerbyshak (@PhilGerb) @PhilGerb – If you don’t know Phil Gerbyshak, now is your chance to meet & follow him. Author of 10 Ways to Make It Great, Phil is a Milwaukee social media strategist, relationship geek, and lover of interesting things. His enthusiasm and fountain of ideas can help kick-start your business or blog, for either professional or personal interests.  Ask him about Milwaukee!
  • Bryan Person (@BryanPerson) @BryanPerson – Founder of Social Media Breakfast itself, Bryan Person is the guy I emailed back in 2007 about starting an SMB here in Minneapolis. Loved his advice of “why not you”. Originally from Boston, and now in Austin, Bryan is currently the “LiveWorld social media guy”.
  • Lisa Grimm (@lulugrimm) @lulugrimm – Looking for smart, witty, and a great example of how digital public relations professionals are using social media? Follow Lisa Grimm to find out how someone at the nexus of GenX/GenY embodies the best of characteristics of both. It also turns out that she’s a great speaker and moderator of panels.
  • Don Ball (@donmball) @donmball – Cofounder of CoCoMSP and Unsummit, Don Ball is a great resource in the St. Paul & Minneapolis are for freelance, independent contractors/consultants and startups in general.  Supportive, idea rich and willing to share his enthusiasm for you to succeed is how I describe Don.

Okay, that’s a good start for today.  I’ll work at doing a better job (read: more) next week, but it’s hard to pic a handful of really good, valuable people out of so many I know and write a short blurb about them.  Or it could be that it’s late on Friday and I’m looking for a way to get this posted while it still is Friday.

😉

In any case, check out these great folks and let me know some of your suggestions below.  I’m sure there’s many I haven’t met yet that I’d really like to talk with. Now go have a great weekend!

Old media bias – or is it fear of obsolescence?

Saturday night I was listening to social media guru & fellow Social Media Breakfast conversationalist @Albert Maruggi of Provident Partners being interviewed on WCCO radio here in Minneapolis. What really struck me was the way in which the host of the show totally spun every point that was brought up. Instead of a real discussion of what is happening in the social media space, she choose to simply believe her pre-conceived notions of the Internet as a “dangerous” place.

Now I agree that everyone is welcome to believe what they want, but to not let an honest discussion develop seems deceiving to me. Whether you believe in the hype or not isn’t the point, rather the inability to have an honest discussion about something on an old-media platform in a public space. Personally I think that fellow Twitter @MNHeadHunter hit the nail on the head in this tweet.

@rickmahn Biased or not knowledgable. Or feeling threatened 🙂

Personally, this is one of the examples that worries me about so many people relying on old media for all their political news. If we can’t have an honest discussion of the facts on the platform about something like social media, how can I trust them about my political choices from any party? Disappointing to say the least.

Oh yeah, Albert was great on talking about facts, concepts, and directions – well done Albert!

Did anyone else catch the broadcast last Saturday? What did you think of the interview?

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